The Flower Kings

The Flower Kings
Roine Stolt and Tomas Bodin in 2004.
Background information
Origin	Sweden
Genres	Progressive rock, psychedelic rock
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Century Media, InsideOut
Associated acts	Kaipa, Transatlantic, Agents of Mercy, Karmakanic, The Tangent
Website	FlowerKings.se
Members	Roine Stolt Hasse Fröberg Tomas Bodin Jonas Reingold Felix Lehrmann
Past members	Jaime Salazar Michael Stolt Zoltan Csörsz Daniel Gildenlöw Marcus Liliequist Ola Heden Erik Hammarström

The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock group. Formed on August 1994 by veteran guitarist Roine Stolt, as a touring band to support his solo album The Flower King, the band stayed together after the tour and have gone on to become one of the most prolific studio recording units in rock music of their era. In thirteen years they released nearly 18 hours of music spread over 11 albums. Their music is similar to early symphonic progressive rock groups such as Yes, marked by sharp dynamic changes, polyrhythmics, heavy bass, vocal harmonies, abstract and occasionally nonsensical lyrics, and extended song lengths.

The Flower Kings have been through frequent personnel changes. The original line-up for Stolt's solo album consisted of Stolt (vocals, electric guitar, bass, and keyboards), Jaime Salazar (drums), and Hasse Fröberg (vocals). They later added Michael Stolt on bass and Tomas Bodin on keyboards for the supporting tour. Michael Stolt was replaced by Jonas Reingold in 2000, and Jaime Salazar by Zoltan Csörsz in 2002. Daniel Gildenlöw of Pain of Salvation joined the band the same year as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist.

Other contributors have included Hasse Bruniusson (percussion) and Ulf Wallander (saxophone).

Roine Stolt has written the vast majority of the material the band has recorded, with Bodin contributing most of the rest. The music is best described as symphonic progressive rock, bearing a strong resemblance to the music of Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and early Genesis, with jazz fusion and blues influences. The band's lyrics are almost uniformly positive and uplifting, affirming such values as love, peace, and spirituality, and furthering their association with Yes.